This document defines learning as a process of knowledge and skills acquisition, application, reinforcement, and refinement that cannot be rushed. Each student brings to assigned tasks a personal perspective compiled of native abilities, acquired skills, personal interests, prior experiences, the home environment, exposure to diverse learning…

This pamphlet offers guidelines for educators who want to improve their use of strategy instruction with students who have inefficient and/or ineffective learning strategies. Specific examples of strategic teaching are provided for improving general and academic performance, and suggestions are given on how to create a strategic environment…

This digest discusses second language learning strategies--specific actions, behaviors, steps, or techniques students used to improve their progress in apprehending, internalizing, and using the second language. The first section discusses characteristics of good language learners. The second section highlights research findings that suggest…

This study identified 10 savants with developmental disabilities and an exceptional ability to calculate calendar dates. These "calendar calculators" were asked to demonstrate their abilities, and their strategies were analyzed. The study found that the ability to calculate dates into the past or future varied widely among these…

Recent research has demonstrated that knowledge about specific instances may be of more relevance to reasoning than has previously been assumed. Students can rely on principles they have learned, or they can recall something similar previously experienced, and base the new prediction on it in an instance-based approach. Instance-based (or…

The detrimental effects of test anxiety on knowledge acquisition as well as performance can occur by interfering with students' motivational tendencies and the use of effective cognitive and learning strategies. A promising conceptual approach to the constellation of student characteristics that may moderate the effects of test anxiety is…

The instructional techniques currently in use in many classrooms across the country were developed to teach children the "basics" and to instill good working habits adaptable to the industrial age. Although the term "learning style" first appeared in research literature in the 1950s, it did not burst upon the education scene significantly until…

This book presents an approach to learning that builds on trust and personal regard. It is based on the experiences of a second grade teacher and relates anecdotal experiences. Chapter I discusses beginning the transference of power, pre-planning for the school year, and creating an environment. Chapter II discusses building trust, focusing on…

The field of machine learning has developed a wide array of techniques for improving the effectiveness of performance elements. Ideally, a learning system would adapt its commitments to the demands of a particular learning situation, rather than relying on fixed commitments that impose tradeoffs between the efficiency and utility of a learning…

Emerging literacy is a developmental process which is closely tied to the child's developing cognitive processes. The interaction of memory and emerging literacy can be discussed in the context of Marie Clay's Reading Recovery model. Memory types, encoding and retrieval, strategy use, and executive control/expectancies are components of cognitive…

For schools and classrooms to become places of achieving goals, educators and students must cooperate to further learning. Cooperative learning in education means overcoming the competition and individualism present in traditional educational models. This book is designed to help educators understand and implement cooperative learning. It includes…

It is agreed among most educators that the arts should occupy some place in the elementary school curriculum. Yet the fact is that a strong role for the arts has yet to be developed. This paper argues that at least part of the reason for why such a strong role for the arts does not exist lies in some of the widely held beliefs about the practice…

The hypothesis was tested that highly anxious students invited to employ reflective learning strategies would spontaneously use a more reflective, less impulsive approach in solving response-oriented problems. A total of 53 fourth-grade students were administered the Child Anxiety Scale: 12 students were assigned to a high-anxiety treatment group,…

In this study a distinction is made between routine, semiroutine, and nonroutine problems based on the problem solver's knowledge. Routine problems are solved by applying a known procedure, semiroutine problems require planning that uses functional knowledge, and nonroutine problems require generation of new functional knowledge. Nonroutine…

This paper describes the effect of a tangible reward system that was used as a motivator for 92 average-ability suburban junior high school students in an earth science class. Every 2 weeks a student's cumulative performance on daily classroom work and homework was monitored. Each student who completed 100 percent of the work assigned over the 2…